Add this to the list of social ills blamed on web 2.0 social networking sites Twitter and Facebook: they could harm your moral values!

Today's fast-paced media could be making us indifferent to human suffering and should allow time for us to reflect, according to researchers.

They found that emotions linked to moral sense are slow to respond to news and events and have failed to keep up with the modern world.

In the time it takes to fully reflect on a story of anguish and suffering, the news bulletin has already moved on or the next Twitter update is already being read.

As activities such as reading books and meeting friends, where people can define their morals, are taken over by news snippets and fast-moving social networking, the problem could become widespread, researchers warn.

Children could be particularly vulnerable because their brains are still developing.

"If things are happening too fast, you may not ever fully experience emotions about other people's psychological states and that would have implications for your morality," said Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, from the University of Southern California, and one of the researchers.

this is reminiscent of the "television will ruin your eyeballs" scaremongering in the 50s. I hate that studies like this (limited, sociological in nature, poorly constructed and concluded) are picked up by the media and taken to the extreme conclusion.